Last year, #SkinnyTok flooded feeds with influencers pushing extreme thinness as a lifestyle, but the US Navy veteran and nationally ranked powerlifter, Katie Salerni, recently highlighted that a lot could go wrong if someone follows the trend dedicatedly.

On February 7, Salerni shared an Instagram reel highlighting why the ‘skinny lifestyle’ was a facade despite being marketed as healthy. From her experience of once having a body with "zero fat" she said that being extremely skinny can cause several issues, including brain damage.

She took a jibe at the #SkinnyTok influencers saying, "As someone who has had zero body fat, I cannot tell you enough how much these skinny talk influencers are suffering from literal brain damage. When I was super lean for my show, I could barely think a cohesive thought, and my memory was dog s***."

She highlighted that there was a time when her memory was so bad that her best friend literally called her "s*****" because she kept forgetting about one of her trips that she mentioned at least five times.

Salerni doesn’t blame anyone who follows the Skinnytok trend for what they say, as she believes they are often so low on energy that they can barely process a thought properly. "I don't blame them. They are f****** miserable, which is why they say some dumb a** s*** online," said the former US Navy personnel.

She also warned her followers about the trend, saying, "While I do think having a healthy physique is super crucial for your max enjoyment of life, healthy does not look like as rare thin as possible. It just doesn't."

Salerni further expressed that people shouldn’t follow these influencers, as they are just selling a recipe for a disaster. And, she is not the only one to say this.

Registered Dietitian Calls Out SkinnyTok Trend

“Glorifying thinness as a marker of morality, health, or discipline is harmful to physical, emotional, and mental health,” registered dietitian Emily Van Ecksays said during her interview with HealthLine.

Emily stated that dieting revolves around eating disorders, and the younger someone starts, the higher their risk becomes, “Because these videos often feature teenagers and young adults, they’re especially concerning.”

She further added that making a villain out of essential macronutrients such as carbohydrates and fats is a huge red flag. "Our bodies need these nutrients," she said.

Many concerned professionals have called out the trend and warned young people against following it, but despite that, a section still devoutly follows the SkinnyTok lifestyle.

Would you also like to give them a Katie Salerni-style advice?

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Written by

Suryakant Das